She’s alive. She’s here. That was all that mattered.
Tick-Tic.
Tick-Tic.
Tick-Tic.
Tick-Tic.
Tick-Tic.
Tick-Tic.
The clock behind me went on. I could hear it now. I could hear everything now. The doctors talking outside.
“Have her scans come back?”
“Yes, her brain is lighting up like a fireworks show.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It’s been almost seven hours. Shouldn’t she be waking up by now?”
“Run more tests. Maybe we’re missing something. Her brain wouldn’t be like this if it was hypoxia.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
“I’m not sure if he’s in the right frame of mind to hear anything. Make sure he eats.”
Knock.
Knock.
“Mr. Lord?”
I was starting to hate hearing my name on her lips. I hated the fact that I now felt time passing instead of myself passing with time. I was aware now and I didn’t want to be, not while she was like this.
Someone placed a tray in front of me and just to enjoy the silence, I grabbed the bowl and drank the soup like water before I put it back down.
I didn’t need them focusing on me. I wasn’t important here, she was. They just needed to worry about her.
DAY EIGHT
“Mr. Lord?” Go away, please. “You both have guests.”
“Malachi?”
Hearing her voice, I turned around and sure enough it was Mrs. Yamauchi. Standing beside her was a tall slender woman with long black hair. She looked like Mr. Yamachi…who wasn’t with either of them. I rose from my chair and bowed to them both without letting go of Esther’s hand. I wasn’t sure what to say or why they were here.
When Kikuko looked to the bed, I saw that she was fighting back tears. “Oshaberi.”
For some reasoning hearing that name, having gone over a week without hearing the chatterbox herself, gutted me deeply and I held in my sob.
Though I was shaking I tried my best to remain calm as Mrs. Yamauchi let go of her daughter and walked over to me. She looked me dead in the eyes before she patted both my shoulders and rubbed them like she was trying to warm me up.
“Don’t worry, if he sees her on the other side he’ll kick her right back to you,” she said with a graceful smile, and it took far too long for her words to sink in. I looked back at their daughter, who hung her head and then back to her as I shook mine.
“Mr. Yamauchi?” I asked her, and here she was trying to comfort me of all people. “No…”